Ancient Tombs and Inscriptions

HODIE

• What do you find on a tombstone today?

• Dates• Name• Picture• Inscription

Hodie

HERI

• This marble relief was carved to fit into the facade of a stone tomb that probably stood along a major road outside the city of Rome. The Latin inscription names the three figures as Sextus Maelius Stabilio, Vesinia Iucunda, and Sextus Maelius Faustus. The use of "L" as an abbreviation for Libertus indicates that the men were the freed slaves of Sextus Maelius and that the woman was freed by a Roman matron named Vesinia.

• The handshake shared by the older man and the woman identifies them as husband and wife. Iucunda wears a bride's veil and ring, and she holds her left hand to her face in a wife's traditional gesture of modesty. The younger man is probably the couple's son, born to them while they were still slaves. He may have been responsible for commissioning this monument. The emphasis on the symbols of marriage evident in this relief reflects the importance attached to the family during the reign of the Emperor Augustus.

Tomb of Caecilia Metella Familia

Tomb of Gaius Sestius

Via Appia

Pompeii

Pompeii

Pompeii

Pompeii

HERI

“imagines”

Columbarium

Basic tomb inscription

1.DM or DISMANIBUS=to the shades of the Underworld2.For whom is this monument built(dative) 3.Vixit________annos4.Who built it=FC(nominative case) FC=fecit Nom.case fecit.5.Occupations of the dead

Long inscription

• VIBIA DROSIS• FECIT SIBI• ET SVIS POSTERISQ{UE}

• Vibia Drosis• Made this for herself• And her posterity

Longer inscription

• C VIBIVS FELIX• VIXIT ANNIS XXXXIX• VIBIA DROSIS FECIT PATRO• SVO CARISSIMO • PATRO=PATER OR PATRUUS?• What do you know about Vibia Drosis?

translation

• C VIBIVS FELIX=Gaius Vibius Felix• VIXIT ANNIS XXXXIX=lived 49 years• VIBIA DROSIS FECIT PATRO=Vibis Drosis made

this for her very dear father/uncle • SVO CARISSIMO

•

longest inscription

• DIS MANIBVS=• M DOMITIVS PRIMIGENTIVS FECIT SIBI ET• SVIS LIBERTIS LIBERTABVSQ• POSTERISQVE EORVM=

• DIS MANIBVS=to the shades of the Underworld

• M DOMITIVS PRIMIGENTIVS FECIT SIBI ET=Marcus Domitius 1st born made for himself and

• SVIS LIBERTIS LIBERTABVSQ=his freed men and women

• POSTERISQVE EORVM= and their descendents

What can an inscription tell us about their society?

• Relationship between members including slaves

• Occupations of people• Family size• Women had money• Yes, they really used all this grammar!

FINE